The number of Brazilians outside the McDonalds in Ogaki at lunchtime is completely staggering.It really feels like I've been transported to some alternate Brazil where only the McDonalds are in Japanese.

Does "foreigner" equal (North) American in the eyes of most Japanese people?

I know I was regularly asked if I was Amerikajin but I expected that, based on the odds, that was a reasonable guess.

You have to love stereotypes though as it makes it so easy to recognise a character's nationality. On a flight recently the movie "My Life in Ruins" was playing. I was listening to my iPod and reading but caught enough of it too pick which of the charcaters were the Aussie couple. Just about every shot I saw them in they were holding cans of Fosters. I don't know anyone here who actually drinks that stuff.

Don't complain to me that people kick you when you're down. It's your own fault for lying there

furrykef wrote:If I go to Japan, I wouldn't be surprised if McDonald's ends up being almost the only there that I'd eat. I'm not crazy about McDonald's or anything, but it'd be easy western food.

Me and my mum ended up at McDonalds quite a lot. Reason being it was the only food we could get that we could believe was perhaps almost vegetarian (meals of chips and McSalad). My mum doesn't eat meat or fish or even anything with fish stock in it, so it was really hard to find places to eat. Even TGI Fridays didn't have vegetarian options when we went there (seriously, not a single veggie option. I think she ate chips and onion rings in the end). It was a stark contrast to here in the UK where it's pretty much a requirement to provide alternatives to veggies.

chikara wrote:Does "foreigner" equal (North) American in the eyes of most Japanese people?

Yes.

Well, mostly.... Hollywood has so many movies here, that the only "white person" media that the Japanese get comes from America. Therefore, it's hard to distinguish between people from the US, England, Germany, etc. All white people look like the ones in the movies, so they must be American!

Although, people always guess that I'm from Europe (England mostly). Maybe it's because I'm not fat